Information collection & exchange

It has been noted many times that the centers 
boundaries of the tropical rain forests. The explanation for this is that the limitations of slash and 
burn agriculture in tropical rain forests prevent cultural development from advancing beyond a 
relatively simple level. Gardens can be productive only for a short time. Consequently, 
settlements are small and have to move frequently. These two factors prevent the growth of 
occupational special

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[Adapted from John Moore et al. Discourse in Action. Oxford University Press, 1980.] 
Be
tex
they expect their readers to share. Thus, 
readers must often infer bits of 
aft
r calling "Help! Help!" He ran to the kitchen. His mother had burned 
ree children. 
2. Yusof was three years old. 
3. Yusof was playing in the kitchen. 
4. Rahman's wife was frying something. 
5. Rahman was a clerk. 
Y
d a brot
d sister. 
. R
house
ot isolated. 
Th
bor wa
. 
Y
other n
edical treatment. 
tine Nuttall. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Heinemann Educational Books, 1982.] 
le
a 
er
asked to judge a newspaper article for the accuracy and completeness 
f 
kno
presentation, differences in the audience for whom each 
ccount is intended, and the like. 
ing able to make inferences and see implications can contribute greatly to a reader's understanding of a 
t. Writers usually do not make explicit all the assumptions which
information which are not stated. The next exercise, which would be done 
er the text has been read, gives practice in making such inferences. 
Read the following text. 
A Son to Be Proud Of 
Last week, Rahman's wife had an accident. Rahman's youngest child, Yusof, was at home when it 
happened. He was playing with his new toy car. Rahman had given it to him the week before, for his third 
birthday. 
Suddenly Yusof heard his mothe
herself with some hot cooking oil. She was crying with pain and the pan was on fire. 
Rahman had gone to his office. Both the other children had gone to school. Yusof was too small to help 
his mother, and she was too frightened to speak sensibly to him. But he ran to the neighbor's house and 
asked her to come and help his mother. She soon put out the fire and took Yusof's mother to the clinic. 
When Rahman came home, his wife told him what had happened. He was very proud of his son. "When 
you are a man, you will be just like your father," he said. 
Now read the statements below. Say which statements can be inferred from the text. 
1. Rahman had th
6. usof ha
her an
7
ahman's
was n
8.
e neigh
s a nurse
9. usof's m
eeded m
[Chris
Exercises which ad a learner to evaluate text may require a rath sophisticated use of critical thinking 
skills. For example, learners may be 
o the account which it gives of a particular event. This works best when the learners have personal 
wledge of the event. A similar exercise would have the learners compare two or three accounts of the 
same event. They can look for signs of bias in each 
a

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The next sample exercise is similar to one discussed earlier in that it deals with logical structure. However, 
where the earlier exercise focuses only on the semantic aspects of a logical relationship (a series of causes 
and effects), the exercise which follows makes the student aware of the language forms used to express a 
gical relationship, in this case the chronology underlying a process. The student must look for words like